26 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Fascinating!! This book was great. For someone like me who hasn't really studied any science since high school (many years ago), Bryson provides a great history of the earth and science through the ages that is written so anyone can understand it. It's amazing to me how many scientific principles have changed and theories introduced since I took high school physics in the 60s. There are so many interesting and fascinating facts in the book. It really makes me want to learn more about some of the specific areas. The quibbling among scientists such as the early discoverers of dinosaurs was great. The parts about dangers from space and the Earth itself were frightening: the possible future collision with a comet or asteroid, the inevitable huge earthquakes and volcanic activity, the possible ice ages, etc. And the insights into some of the great scientists personalities and eccentricities were marvelous. The part about the retiring scientist Henry Cavendish and his shyness was priceless. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to get a broad perspective on the sciences. I wish my grade school teachers could have made science this interesting.

This book is quite different from Bryson's usual fare. Here Bryson steps out of his usual travel and language focus to write about science. The product is an interesting combination of the social history of science, biographies of famous scientists, and discussion of significant scientific discoveries in very accessible language. What science does Bryson cover, you might ask? This is where "everything" comes in to the picture. Bryson has chosen a wide range of scientific discoveries, from working out the theory of evolution to discovering the size and shape of the earth. Mostly, Bryson focuses on the largest and smallest things in the universe. He looks at galaxies and volcanoes, but also DNA and atoms. Truly, this book is expansive. For the lay reader, it becomes clear that there's a tremendous amount of knowledge tied up in this book, and it's amazing just how much Bryson had to learn to write it. For the non-scientist, this book manages to create a sense of awe, wonder, and fear, all at the same time. Bryson does an excellent job of highlighting just how surprising and contingent the fact of our existence is, and how complicated it was to get here. He creates amazement as the reader is forced to consider almost unfathomable dimensions, both gargantuan and tiny. Contingency is clearly the most significant theme that emerges from the work. Bryson also paints an interesting portrait of the practice of science, scientific culture, and a sense of just how difficult and tenuous some conclusions are. While it's amazing just how much scientists have discovered, it's even more daunting to consider how much remains inconclusive. Overall, this is an extremely accessible discussion of some difficult topics, infused with Bryson's humor and style. It's a long read, but well worth the effort.

This had to be the best book I've ever read on how the earth and solar system were created (or became). It has a lot of "big words", but the author kept me interested. I couldn't put it down. I wanted to read more and more about how our earth evolved and how man, as we know him, came to be. He talks about huge numbers and trillions of years, but he doesn't get you lost in the fine details, though there are lots to digest.

Wonderful book, written in "layman's terms", which means there's more biographies of 19th century scientists than I like, but he does manage to put in a lot of science, and also give a lot of the sense of uncertainty in the scientific evidence. Lots of good etymological (word origin) information (for instance, I now know where the phrase "cloud nine" came from [hint, there's probably a "cloud eight" and a "cloud ten"]). There's a lot of "if the earth was the size of a grain of sand, then theres...." and "if the time that humans were on earth was 1 second, then the trilobites...."

This is an incredibly informative, fascinating, and entertaining book in which Bryson explores the science of life and the universe, tackling such subjects as cosmology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, and geology along the way. Don't miss this delightful journey!

the book is of interest to nearly anyone who has even the smallest thoughts about the world, science, and nature. it touches upon all of the great discoveries about our world, and does so in a natural and clear language. almost anyone can pick this up, and come away with a deeper understanding of the world. epic, and brilliant.

I think this will be the book that I will go back to again and again. There were so many interesting facts to learn, and I enjoyed reading about how various scientists discovered new information that often surprised them. I liked reading about William Herschel's discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781 and how he wanted to name it after King George III (Georgium Sidus). I also liked learning about prehistoric guinea pigs the size of cows.

I read this 5 years ago, read it again this month, and didn't know that I had already read it until I went to post it on PBS! Anyway, he does manage to cover nearly everything in theoretical science (I'm sure there are parts he left out), and if you aren't a self-styled expert on those areas, it it quite informative.

I'm not done with it but the first 50 pages have been great. It's like no other bill bryson book in terms of content. He is explaining real science stuff. It's very interesting but at times dense, not bc of his writing but bc the information can be complex. While the content isn't typical Bill, the style and humor are fully present. I am really enjoying this.

I do not, on a regular basis, read science books. Since college, the only science book I can claim to have read was Simon Winchesters A Crack on the Edge of the World, which was one parts history to two parts plate tectonics and I skimmed and skipped over the more technical details. However, since I am very fond of Bill Brysons writing style, I decided to give his A Short History of Nearly Everything a try and I loved it. This is not a dry textbook; it is a narrative. It is just as much a history book as it is a science book, which increase its accessibility.

He begins at the beginning of the universe, and follows the story through to the formation of the earth, the continents and down to the emergence of life. Or rather, it narrates the stories of how scientists think all of this happened, and how they came to a consensus on the theories.

Not only do we get a history of the science of the earth, but we get a history of science itself. Through it all he sprinkles many-an entertaining anecdote about those crazy, oddball scientists who came up with it all. Eccentric, arrogant, endearing intellectuals, they squabbled bitterly over competing ideas and theories, pursued the wrong paths, stole credit from one another, often dying in bizarre ways. The mad scientist and absent-minded professor are cliches that came about for a reason. The reader gets to meet all of their prototypes here. The scientists noble quest for knowledge is given a messy, endearing, human face.

This book is warm, readable, funny, and very interesting. I thoroughly recommend it.

Very scientific and well-researched in some places, but very heavily evolution-based, which always opens a ton of questions since the dates are such a wild guessing game. Probably my least favorite of Bryson's books. He rarely disappoints.

Another Bill Bryson classic. With Bill's classic mastery of words and scything wit, he forays into physics, geology, paleontology, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, and a few other fields to comment on and entertain us with a different perspective on issues such as the creation of the universe, the improbability of our own existence, evolution, formation of the earth, genetics, and much, much more. Sprinkled with intriguing and often humorous anecdotal stories about the characters (such as Einstein and Newton) that many of us learned about in school as well as many, many names most have never heard of who were significant and sometimes infamous in the development of our understanding of what we know today. Or maybe I should say what we think we know, because on nearly every turn of the page, Bill illustrates that what we were taught in school may or may not, and more likely not, be true.

The book is hefty and daunting when you first pick it up. However, it is a great read for folks who don't have lots of time to read because the information is presented in chunks of various sizes that enable it to be put down at any time and still feel satisfied. This was often a good thing for me because I gave me time to consider the most recent page/chapter/topic that I read. And the pondering made the book even more enjoyable.

I read the whole thing! It kept me interested throughout.
A short note: I have this book as an unpostable. It has about a 1 1/2" rip on the front along the binding. I taped it. No underlining inside. A bit of writing on a few pages on the border. I would like to trade it for one credit.